Clinical services
Emergency & Ambulance Services
A 24-hour emergency department on the Bellary–Uravakonda highway, with an emergency physician on site, immediate resuscitation, and CT, laboratory and cath lab support inside the same building.
Call 108 immediately and ask to be brought to Sainath Institute of Medical Sciences on the Bellary–Uravakonda–Anantapur Highway Road, near Roots Public School. Do not wait for morning, do not wait for a relative to arrive, and do not stop at a pharmacy on the way. The emergency department accepts patients without an appointment, without registration and without advance payment.
What the emergency department does
The emergency department is the front door of the hospital and it never closes. An emergency physician assesses every patient at the moment of arrival, decides how urgent the problem is, and starts treatment before the diagnosis is complete — because in heart attack, stroke, severe bleeding, poisoning and sepsis, waiting for certainty costs more than acting early.
The resuscitation bay is deliberately placed within a few steps of CT imaging, the laboratory, the cardiac catheterisation laboratory and the intensive care units. A patient arriving with crushing chest pain can have an ECG in minutes, cardiac enzymes sent, and be moved towards the cath lab without leaving the building or waiting for an inter-hospital transfer.
For families travelling in from Guntakal, Tadipatri, Kadiri, Rayadurg, Uravakonda, Kalyandurg or the Bellary border, the highway location is not a marketing point. It is minutes saved on a road where minutes decide outcomes.
Call 108 immediately for any of these
These are the presentations where self-transport, a local injection or waiting until the clinic opens routinely causes avoidable death or disability.
- Chest pain or heaviness lasting more than a few minutes, especially with sweating, breathlessness or pain spreading to the jaw, back or left arm
- Sudden weakness or numbness of the face, arm or leg on one side, slurred speech, or sudden confusion — these are stroke symptoms
- Difficulty breathing, gasping, or blue lips and fingertips
- Any road traffic accident, fall from height, or injury with heavy bleeding
- A seizure that will not stop, or a patient who cannot be woken
- Poisoning, pesticide ingestion, drug overdose or snake bite
- High fever with drowsiness, very low blood pressure, or reduced urine output
- Bleeding in pregnancy, severe headache with blurred vision in pregnancy, or a baby that has stopped moving
- Heat stroke — collapse, confusion or hot dry skin after working outdoors through the Anantapur summer
What to do while the ambulance is on its way
The right actions in the first fifteen minutes matter as much as anything that happens afterwards. The wrong ones — a glass of water to an unconscious patient, ash on a burn — cause real harm.
- Keep the patient still and lying down
Do not move a road accident victim unnecessarily, particularly if the neck or back may be injured, unless there is danger of fire or further collision. Loosen tight clothing and keep the airway clear.
- Do not give anything by mouth
No water, no food, no tablets to a patient who is drowsy, unconscious, vomiting, having a seizure, or who may need emergency surgery or anaesthesia.
- For chest pain, help the patient rest and stay calm
Sit or lie them down and stop all exertion. If the patient already carries a nitrate spray or tablet prescribed for angina, use it as previously advised. Do not start new medicines yourself.
- For heavy bleeding, apply firm direct pressure
Press a clean cloth hard over the wound and keep pressing until help arrives. Do not tie a tight rope-style tourniquet around a limb, and do not remove a knife, glass or metal object that is still embedded.
- For burns, cool with running water for twenty minutes
Remove rings and tight clothing before swelling begins, then cover with a clean cloth or cling film. Never apply ice, oil, toothpaste, turmeric or ash.
- For a seizure, protect the head and turn the patient on their side
Move hard objects away, cushion the head, and do not force anything into the mouth. Note the time the seizure started — the treating doctor will ask.
- Note when the symptoms began
For stroke and heart attack, the exact time of onset determines which treatments are still possible. If the patient woke with symptoms, note the time they were last seen normal.
How triage works
Patients in an emergency department are seen in order of clinical urgency, not in order of arrival. This is the single most common cause of misunderstanding at the emergency counter, so it is worth explaining plainly.
| Priority | What it means | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Immediate | Life is in danger right now — cardiac arrest, obstructed airway, major trauma, uncontrolled bleeding, unresponsive patient | Taken straight into the resuscitation bay. Treatment begins before registration or payment. |
| Very urgent | Chest pain, stroke symptoms, severe breathlessness, seizures, high-risk poisoning, obstetric emergencies | Seen by the emergency physician without waiting, with ECG, monitoring and urgent investigations started immediately. |
| Urgent | Fractures, moderate injuries, severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, high fever with warning signs | Assessed promptly and moved ahead of less urgent patients as beds and staff free up. |
| Standard | Minor injuries, wounds needing stitches, stable fever, conditions that a routine clinic could manage | Treated after higher-priority patients. Waiting time varies with how busy the department is. |
In a heart attack, muscle dies from the moment the artery blocks — reopening it within the first hours preserves pumping function for life. In stroke, clot-dissolving therapy is generally considered within about four and a half hours of the symptoms starting. In major trauma, controlling bleeding and shock in the first hour decides survival. Nothing recovers those hours later. Reach a hospital that can scan, test and treat under one roof, first time.
What to bring — if there is time
If there is no time, come first. Documents can follow with a relative.
- All current medicines, or the empty strips and boxes — the exact names and doses matter
- Previous discharge summaries, ECGs, angiogram reports and scan films
- Known allergies, particularly to medicines
- Insurance card or policy number
- One photo identity proof for the patient and one for the attendant
- The name and phone number of the patient's regular doctor
- For a poisoning or snake bite, the container, the bottle or a description of the snake — never risk further injury to catch it
Common questions
Should I call 108 or drive the patient myself?
Call 108 for chest pain, stroke symptoms, breathing difficulty, seizures, poisoning or major trauma. An ambulance crew can start oxygen, monitoring and basic treatment on the way, they know how to move an injured patient safely, and they can alert the hospital so the team is ready on arrival. Driving yourself is reasonable only for minor injuries where none of those things are needed.
Will treatment be delayed if we cannot pay immediately?
No. Emergency stabilisation is not withheld for payment. Registration and billing formalities are completed after treatment has begun for genuinely critical patients, and the insurance desk will help you check cashless insurance cover once the patient is stable.
Someone who arrived after us was taken in first. Why?
Because their condition was assessed as more immediately life-threatening. Triage is a clinical decision, reviewed continuously — if a waiting patient's condition changes, tell the triage nurse straight away and they will be reassessed.
Can we bring a patient who is already being treated elsewhere?
Yes. Bring the current treatment records, scans and medicine list, and inform the receiving team what has already been given. For planned transfers, having the referring doctor speak to the emergency department in advance helps us prepare the bed, the team and any equipment needed.
Reaching the emergency department
Not sure which department you need?
Share your symptoms and the appointment desk will route you to the right consultant. For anything sudden or severe, do not wait for a callback — come to the emergency department.